Henry's Map by David Elliot

Last week, when we visited the Dublin Library, Miss Val shared a stack of new books.  One that caught my eye was Henry's Map by David Elliot.

This is a great book. In the story, Henry is a great character:

"Henry was a very organized sort of pig. He liked knowing 

exactly where everything was in his tidy little sty."  

But once looks out his window and notices what a mess the farm is, he decides to make a map so that everyone would know what belongs where:-)

Henry goes onto make his map, walking around the farm and adding the animals on the map.  The animals are thrilled to be included on his map and the final hand-drawn map is a good one for kids who are just learning about maps.

I love lots about this book. I love Henry. He is a great character who makes me smile. I also love the illustrations as they bring the farm to life in a happy way.  Mostly, I love the humor--you will have to read the book to find out the amusing part in the book. It is sweet humor (nothing like the wicked humor or I Want My Hat Back or Carnivores!).

For primary kids learning about maps, this is a fun read.  I thought it would be great for my 3rd graders as an invitation to map writing in Writing Workshop. Creating a map to trigger stories from your life is one I learned from Ralph Fletcher and I love to share the map in the front of Marshfield Dreams. This will be another one to share in those minilessons.

This book is great fun and has lots of possibilities!

Books Coming in October!

These are some books I am excited about-they are due out sometime in October!

The Misadventures of Salem Hyde: Book One: Spelling Trouble by Frank Cammuso

Africa Is My Home: A Child of the Amistad by Monica Edinger

I'm a Frog! (An Elephant and Piggie Book) (Elephant and Piggie Book, An) by Mo Willems

Battle Bunny by Jon Scieszka

Eat Like a Bear by April Pulley Sayre

God Got a Dog by Cynthia Rylant

David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants by Malcolm Gladwell

Celebrating Writers: From Possibilities to Publication by Ruth Ayres

Falling in Love with Close Reading: Lessons for Analyzing Texts--and Life by Chris Lehman and Kate Roberts

2 professional books that are recent released that I am excited about digging into:

Finding the Heart of Nonfiction: Teaching 7 Essential Craft Tools with Mentor Texts by Georgia Heard

The Writing Teacher's Troubleshooting Guide by Lester Laminack

Ling and Ting Share a Birthday by Grace Lin

I love all of Grace Lin's books and I especially loved the first Ling and Ting when it came out.  I was thrilled to see that the second book in the series, Ling & Ting Share a Birthday  was due out this month!  I love this series and I love these twins!

Sometimes I am disappointed by the second book in a new series. But not this time! I loved this one as much as I loved the first!  In this story, Ling and Ting have a birthday.  And they share it of course.  The book is divided into 6 chapters (and the Table of Contents is ADORABLE!).  Each chapter tells a little story about the birthday.  Each one is a great story and the stories connect a bit throughout the book.  The humor makes me smile:-)

I spent lots of the summer reading books that would be good for 3rd graders. But I am new to 3rd grade so I am still learning what 3rd graders enjoy. I know how a book might support them as readers but I am still figuring out what they find funny and the level of complexity that is right for this age.

Ling and Ting is a great book for those transitional readers in grades 1-3.  The book is a chapter book with lots of supports--short chapters that each tell their own story, 2 characters to get to know, chapter titles, and picture support. But most importantly, this is a good story that kids will enjoy. I'm excited to share this with students and I so hope that Grace Lin writes lots more about these twins! 

Slice of Life: A Visit to the Pet Store

We are now a family with 2 dogs.  Deciding to get a puppy for our 14 year old was a big decision but the timing seemed right.  We have not had a puppy for a VERY long time and we are EXHAUSTED! Arnie (the puppy) is adorable and we are having fun but he is a handful for sure!

I decided that Arnie needed some new chew toys as he has been chewing on the carpet, the windowsill, the woodwork and the kitchen chairs.  I thought maybe finding toys that had more interesting textures would keep the puppy off the other chewables in the house.  So, we made a trip to the Pet Store. We came home with a few toys that seem to be helping. But I must say, I have not been to a pet store to shop in years. Our older dog doesn't really play and hasn't played much in years. So the trip to the pet store was quite an experience.

Who knew that you could dress your dog as Big Bird for Halloween?

Who knew that they had Ugly Christmas Sweaters for dogs?

AND....Who knew they had Halloween Socks for dogs?

We restrained from the Halloween costume and the Christmas sweater but I could not resist the socks (that come in packs of 4, of course!). I was sure Arnie would be adorable in these socks. My husband, however, adamantly disagreed as he has said from the start that Arnie is a "cool dog" and he did not think these socks were cool enough for Arnie.

Well, we got home and Ana tried to put the socks on Arnie. He doesn't growl often but he did growl and snarl once the first sock was placed on his foot.  I figured he would get used to it and tried again the next morning. The minute I tried to put on the sock, he grabbed it from my hand and ran away with it. Within seconds, nearly the entire sock was in his mouth and he ran far away.  We are pretty sure he would have swallowed it whole but we caught him and had a 2 minute battle to pull the sock out of his mouth.  He clearly hates the socks.  (My husband reiterated that the socks are totally uncool...)

How a sweet little baby puppy can hate these adorable Halloween socks is beyond me. Hoping he is not opposed to the ugly Christmas Sweater in a few months....

Picture Perfect Perfection by Deborah Diesen

I  have never been one to buy "holiday" books.  I would rather spend money on books that kids will enjoy all year round so the book has to be REALLY good to connect to a holiday.  But my love of Google Doodles is changing my attitude about that a bit. I love waking up in the morning and seeing a Google Doodle connected to the date. It is always a great way to start the day and to learn a bit and think a bit about it.

Picture Day Perfection by Deborah Diesen is going to be the perfect read aloud for our morning meeting time on Picture Day.  It is a great story of a boy working hard on a perfect school picture.  The book captures Picture Day perfectly--in the way that kids have to go through a regular school day yet still look perfect for the school photo, which could be at 3p.m.  It is a great story and a big selling point for me was that it is illustrated by Dan Santat, who has become one of my favorites. My kids loved CARNIVORES and this is the perfect book to add to what they know and love about Santat as an illustrator.

I bought this book because it seemed like a fun way to start the day on Picture Day this year. But it is also a great story with a great character. It will no doubt make a good read aloud.  The illustrations will engage readers immediately and it is a perfect picture book for independent reading time.

Here is a very fun book trailer (thanks to Colby Sharp for finding this one!)

Poetry Friday -- Ebb and Flow

Wikimedia Commons photo 

THE TIDE RISES, THE TIDE FALLS
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

The tide rises, the tide falls,
The twilight darkens, the curlew calls;
Along the sea-sands damp and brown
The traveller hastens toward the town,
     And the tide rises, the tide falls.

Darkness settles on roofs and walls,
But the sea, the sea in the darkness calls;
The little waves, with their soft, white hands,
Efface the footprints in the sands,
     And the tide rises, the tide falls.

The morning breaks; the steeds in their stalls
Stamp and neigh, as the hostler calls;
The day returns, but nevermore
Returns the traveller to the shore,
     And the tide rises, the tide falls.

Tabatha has the Poetry Friday Roundup at The Opposite of Indifference. I won't be able to visit the round up this week -- see you next week!

I Survived #8: The Japanese Tsunami, 2011

I Survived #8: I Survived the Japanese Tsunami, 2011
by Lauren Tarshis
illustrated by Scott Dawson
Scholastic, 2013
review copy provided by the publisher

A couple of weeks ago, this "Shocking New Video" of the 2011 Japanese tsunami was shared on FaceBook. I clicked over and watched all 25+minutes of it. It was one thing to have seen the quick clip that became iconic in the days after the tsunami -- the one of the monster wave crashing into the coast -- but to watch, with the person behind the camera, 25 minutes of gradual, and then terrifyingly sudden rising waters that completely obliterated the landscape, was quite another.

It was with those images in my mind that I read Lauren Tarshis' newest installment in the I Survived series. (I'm embarrassed to admit that this is the first book in this series that I've read. Somehow, this series escaped my radar until last year. I got several for my classroom library, and then they were never back on the shelves!)

Tarshis gives a kid reader just enough of the terrifying experience of the tsunami to understand the suddenness, feel the separation from loved ones, and know the shock of whole towns being leveled. But her character is an American child, visiting in Japan, so he gets to leave the destruction behind, in much the same way the world has. (There are no "Shocking New Video"s of the rebuilding efforts that are still, I'm sure, going on.) I do not mean this as a criticism. Tarshis writes, in the information following the story, about how hard it was for her to try to understand the enormity of the disaster. And she does show readers a Japanese character who chooses not to leave, and teaches us, in the information after the story, about gaman, a word in Japanese which means "to be strong and patient even when something terrible is happening."

Adventures in Cartooning: Characters in Action!

Adventures in Cartooning: Characters in Action
by James Sturm, Andrew Arnold, and Alexis Frederick-Frost (from The Center for Cartoon Studies)
First Second, on shelves October 8, 2013
review copy provided by the publisher

They're back! The same crew of cartoonists whose first book, Adventures in Cartooning: How to Turn Your Doodles Into Comics (one of the NCTE 2010 Notable Children's Books in the Language Arts) taught readers how to make a cartoon are now moving into the realm of "how to draw simple characters, pose them, and put an expression on their faces that communicate emotions to the reader." And all of this gets wrapped into a story about an evil movie director, a missing king, and our heroes, the Knight (there's a surprise about her in the first book...oops...I just gave it away...), the knight's steed, Edward, and the Magic Cartooning Elf.

For all those buddying graphic novelists in your classroom, this book is a must-read!

(See also last year's Adventures in Cartooning: Christmas Special)

Slice of Life: Starbucks!

If you are a student in my classroom, you know that every so often, I will yell out, “Has anyone seen my tea?”  My students are used to seeing me carry my Venti sized Starbucks cup around the classroom as I work.  And they become very skilled at finding it for me when I seem to have placed it on a bookshelf, a table or the floor next to my stool.  They know that my mornings begin at Starbucks.

Can you find my Starbucks cup?

There are lots of things I love about living in Dublin, Ohio.  One of them is that, in my opinion, we have the best Starbucks in the world. I find a Starbucks in every city I visit and I have yet to find one that compares to the downtown Dublin Starbucks.   It is the place I stop on my way into school every morning.  The Starbucks is in the middle of town and there is no drive through.  No matter the weather, everyone goes in to get their morning caffeine.  This 5-minute stop on my way to school, has become a favorite way to start my days and my students come to learn this about me pretty quickly.

Many mornings I walk into Starbucks to find my Venti Awake Hot Tea already ready before I even order at the counter. The cup has been marked with my name—the staff often notices when I enter.  And every so often a little drawing decorates my cup.  A fun treat at random times. A staff member may ask questions about the school year. I might ask one of the girls behind the counter how her new baby is doing.  They know me from our quick morning conversations and we’ve come to share quick stories every morning. 

Everyone is on a first name basis at "my" Starbucks.  I realized after weeks of thinking that the Starbucks employees loved me most, that everyone gets the same treatment in the morning. Everyone gets the one-one-one personal hello that I do. I call it my “3-minute Cheers experience”. 

Last winter, a man in front of me, in town for a business meeting said, “When you get up there, will they already know what you want?” He had been watching for a few minutes and picked up the feel of this particular Starbucks.  He was amazed at the relationships that the crew had with nearly every person who ordered a drink.  It doesn’t take long for visitors to realize that this place has a lot of positive energy.  They can't help but smile as they watch.

This is the perfect morning stop for me on the way to school. My family and friends continue to be amazed that I will get out of the car in thunderstorms and ice in order to get my Starbucks fix.  But my morning stop is about more than the tea.  Every day,  my day starts off in a positive way.  And, I am reminded of how important those first minutes of the morning are and of how important a positive transition to each day can be.  I’ve learned that a quick hello and acknowledgement can set my day off right. 

I carry my Starbucks cup around all morning.  I love hot tea but my Starbucks cup has come to be a reminder of my morning and the life lessons I've learned from my morning stops into Starbucks over the past 5 years.  My Starbucks cup reminds me how you can really get to know someone in just a minute or two each day and that those conversations add up.  It reminds me that those first few minutes in the morning matter. They set the stage for the day.  Taking 30 seconds out to really say hello to each child who walks into the classroom—before the busy-ness of the day takes over, can set the tone for the day. It is easy to get caught up in “getting ready for the day” instead of really focusing on each child as they walk through the doorway.  

In a Facebook post last week, my brilliant friend Jen Ochoa reminded me of a Maya Angelou quote I heard years ago, "You must remember, the very first thing a child sees, the first thing they notice when they see you, is you seeing them. They look carefully to see what your face looks like as you lay eyes upon their face. When you see a child, no matter what, remember to fix your face." 

My daily visits to Starbucks are about so much more than caffeine:-)

Conversations About Community in 3rd Grade

A big theme in our Social Studies curriculum is Community.  I kicked off the study this week, I introduced the idea of community and the idea of learning community as an introduction to this yearlong study.  I wanted to have these conversations and this thinking started before we move into the content of local government, community resources, etc.  When we started our conversation, kids shared all they knew about community. I want them to understand the citizenship part of community--that everyone does his/her part and everyone works toward community goals while individuals still have more personal goals.  At the beginning of the conversation, kids seemed to know the content stuff of community (neighborhoods, parks, people, rules and laws) at a basic level which gave us a great start to our conversation.  Then we moved on.

I shared two pieces with the students that first day.  I wanted them to reframe their thinking a bit to think about what made a community work.  I told them I was going to share two pieces as part of our discussion about community and then we'd talk about how those tied in. I wanted them to use these as ways to add to their understanding of what makes a community.  These two pieces provided an amazing conversation about community and what it means to be part of a community.

Following this video conversation, I read the picture book The Little Hummingbird (Ann Marie) by Michael Nicoll Yahgulhanaas.  (Thanks Ann Marie Corgill for this recommendation!) This is a powerful story about a little hummingbird doing his part in the community.

These two pieces provided just the right stories for a great beginning conversation to add new thinking about their understandings of community.

The next day, we read What If Everybody Did That? by Ellen Javernick. This was a quick read that reminds us why we have rules by taking readers into different settings, thinking about not following a rule, and asking, "What if everybody did that?"  We then talked about all of the communities we are a part of and how each had their own goals, rules, etc. Kids mentioned school, sports teams, churches, neighborhoods, our city, etc.

On Day 3 of our conversation, I paired 2 other videos to share with students. I wanted to really focus on the idea of a Learning Community and how members of a community support one another.  This conversation also included goal setting.

We watched this amazing video from Pernille Ripp's 5th grade classroom: My Students' Classroom Vision. At the end of the clip, one of my students said, "I loved that video. It was the best." It was very powerful for them. We followed up with a conversation about being brave, being part of a learning community, individual goals, and community goals. I shared my own experiences--about how it was easy for me to meet a reading goal, as it was easy for me and I loved to read. But it was brave of me to set a running goal and to put myself out there when running was something I had to work hard at.  How the book I am writing is something that has been hard for me lately and it takes some brave to not just quit.  How when we know each others' goals (as in any community) it is easier to help each other meet them.   It was all very informal but thoughtful.  

I followed up with a clip of Kristin Chenoweth which I loved (I used the one with Kellee instead but like this one better.)

We talked about how Kristen Chenoweth was so good and how she celebrated this guest who was amazing. She cheered for her and was so happy that she was so amazing. How that says a lot about Kristen--she loves seeing others do well. Kids immediately talked about ways they support others and cheer them on when they are successful. They were as interested in Kristen as they were in the friends who must have been filming and wooohoooing throughout.

Finally, on Thursday I shared The Butterfly Video.  Thanks to Steve Peterson who shared this clip with me in a blog comment last week! It is brilliant and it fit in perfectly with the week's conversations.  Again, kids were glued.

Austin's Butterfly: Building Excellence in Student Work - Models, Critique, and Descriptive Feedback from Expeditionary Learning on Vimeo.

My favorite part of the follow-up conversation was the mention that, "Mrs. Christine, our art teacher would love this clip. Has she seen it?  I wonder if she has to do more than one draft? Does she get things right on the first try?"  We decided to email her the link to the video and our question right then. Of course she emailed back to let us know that, yes, she does many drafts for lots of things, even as an art teacher:-)

This week's conversations around community were really important for many reasons. I think the kids will understand the bigger communities of city, state, world, etc. because they have thought so much about their own communities. They understand that people make up a community and that our classroom is a community, a learning community.  They have a role to play in the community--for themselves and for the good of the group.

I can already tell that these videos and books have made an impact.  They keep coming up in conversation and I imagine they will continue to. Just like Caine's arcade, I imagine a few will become anchors for the year. Glad we began our conversation like this and am looking forward to the way the conversation evolves over the next eight months.